With his father in a nursing home and his mother needing support, former Great Smoky Mountains park ranger Lincoln Vailes moves to the bayou town of Eternal Springs, Louisiana, to become a police officer.

Recent college graduate and eager social worker, Jade Laurent has also moved there to try and right the wrongs of an abusive past. But someone is running her car off the road and pointing guns in her direction. As Lincoln investigates her case,he uncovers ties to big-city gang warfare up north that appears to be makingits evil way down south.

This novel follows Caroll’s superb novel, DELIVER US FROM EVIL, and tells Lincoln Vailes’ story. In the first book he was a park ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains. Now that his best friend has married and his father’s health is failing, he feels called to return to the bayou town of Eternal Springs, Louisiana, to take a new job as a police officer.

Jade Santiago is a social worker who works tirelessly for a battered women’s shelter. She has come from Philadelphia and is eager and young. She immediately gets involved in a case that seems to be putting her life in danger. Yet, the attempt to run her off the road and being shot at don’t exactly compute with the man whose wife she is trying to protect in the women’s shelter. Something else seems wrong and Lincoln is acutely aware that he needs to listen to his instincts.

The beauty of this book lies in the terrific character development. We become very close to Lincoln, his struggles around his father’s Alzheimer’s, his mother’s devotion, and his anger at God for seemingly abandoning his father, a retired minister. Through it all, Lincoln becomes acutely aware of his attraction to the little social worker with lots of nerve. He also knows there is more to her story than she reveals.

This book deals poignantly with gangs and the consequences of the violence that characterizes these groups. Caroll has cleverly woven this into the story, especially when the gang intrudes upon Eternal Springs. This is a particularly excellent inspirational romance that tells us Lincoln’s story. I suspect the next book might be about Maddox, another criminal investigator who figures prominently in the novel. Excellent, well-written book. - Reviewed by: Jeri Neal, The Romance Readers Connection

Jade Laurent, after witnessing horrific childhood abuse issues, dealing with the death of her parents and subsequent adoption, and her graduation from college in the field of social work, has moved to Eternal Springs to make a difference in other people’s lives so they wouldn’t have to suffer as she did. Her motives appear pure and unselfish, but her over-zealousness tends to undermine her work. She intervenes in a domestic abuse case, that may end up causing untold death threats, violence, and abduction. The fingers are pointing at the domestic abuser, but then things take on a baffling, different, more violent nature directed at her specifically. Lincoln Vailes, a former Great Smoky Mountains park ranger, who is now a police offer, has moved to Eternal Springs to aid his mother with his father’s care. In his position of a police officer, he avails himself to Jade, hoping to catch the perpetrator and end her streak of mishaps.

Robin’s fast-paced, yet detailed circumstances, keeps you reading to find the perpetrators behind all the violence aimed at Jade. Interspersed within the main story line, Robin includes the ramblings of gang warfare–their plots to keep ahead and abreast of what is taking place among the three main gangs in Philadelphia.

Robin also slips in a little romance between two resistant participants. Will this romance interfere with what is happening, hampering Lincoln’s work of protecting Jade while finding the ones responsible for all the havoc?

Robin will have you coming away with a different look at domestic abuse, along with the strains of dealing with gangs. This is not necessarily an easy read, but one needed for people to get involved where possible and necessary. She does an excellent job in bringing out hard issues we can’t ignore. Fear No Evil is a great follow-up to her book, Deliver Us From Evil. Hopefully more are coming!

I appreciated the use of Scripture at the beginning of each chapter. Made me go back and see how it applied. - Linda Wagner, onedesertrose.wordpress.com

Robin Caroll’s Fear No Evil is a suspenseful thriller that examines how God can exist in a perverted world. In this sequel to Deliver Us From Evil, Lincoln Vailes, park ranger turned Louisiana cop, finds himself protecting a local social worker from increasingly dangerous “accidents” while grappling with family issues that cause him to question his faith, raising questions that everyone – Christian or not – has pondered.

Lincoln finds himself in the midst of a gang upheaval centered on Jade Laurent, a local social worker assigned to her first case. As he investigates several shootings and attacks on Jade that eventually put her in the ICU, he must come to grips with his own roiling emotions and anger with God. Similarly, Jade must learn to trust in God and those He sent to care for her, despite her heartbreaking past.

In an effort to develop the characters more fully, the narrator jumps from scene to scene, granting views into the lives of several leading characters, including Lincoln, Jade, and Guerrero, the president of a Philadelphia gang. We also see snapshots from a menace plotting mayhem and a gangster turned born-again Christian to complete the set. While at times this made the plot more predictable, Caroll does a great job of illustrating awkward first meetings just as easily as she does changing relationships. The only exception to this is in regard to the main love interest, which was as fast-paced as the novel itself and fairly unrealistic in light of the personalities and pasts of the characters involved. However, the concern and panic Lincoln feels when Jade suffers from a flash explosion is undeniable and almost tangible in its sincerity.

This was an enjoyable plot, action-packed and fast-paced. In addition, Caroll shows how a wide variety of people can all find, return to, or strengthen their relationship with the Lord, while others facing the same situations choose a much different path. Most of the characters dwell on the past and face difficult emotions and situations but come to terms with their predicaments, and many of them seek to discover more about God. The story is a great setting for portraying biblical principles that include trusting in a just and merciful God and finding strength in Him.

The theme comes from Psalm 23:4—“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Similarly, each chapter begins with a verse that correlates with the chapter’s material and lends a ray of light for the more sinister chapters. Caroll draws from both the Old and New Testaments, pulling the love of God into the story to encourage and uplift the reader. This book is great for young teens and anyone who struggles with understanding God’s justice when terrible things happen. – Kate Sozansky, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

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Author: Robin Caroll
Located in: South, USA
Submitted: July 28, 2010

    Tell us a little about yourself.  I love boxing. I love Hallmark movies. I love fishing. I love scrapbooking. Nope, I've never fit into the boxes people have wanted to put me in. I grew up in Louisiana in the 70s as the baby in my family—adored, but never spoiled. (My two older brothers and two older sisters made sure of that.) The writing bug bit early. At 7 years old, I started writing skits and performing them for my family. I've never stopped. I got married in 1989, have three daughters—nineteen, ten, and eight—and recently became a grandmother to a grandson. I'm passionate about writing, but also about giving back to the industry that has given me my dreams. I'm the past president of ACFW (2007 and 2008) and am currently the director of the annual ACFW writer's conference. I'd describe myself as Spiritual, not religious, with a diverse Christian background. Bottom line? I love Jesus and will follow Him wherever He leads me.

    What was your motivation behind this project?  I had the opportunity to speak with several former-members of a gang about their finding Jesus in prison. Hearing their stories of gang-life intrigued me. As a mother, learning of how gangs “recruit” children broke my heart. The idea of writing about gangs to raise awareness hit me and wouldn’t let me go until I wrote FEAR NO EVIL.

    What do you hope folks will gain from this project?  I hope this story helps raise awareness of the realities of gang violence and how gangs prey on children. I hope readers realize how gangs operate, how all our children are at risk if we’re not careful, and how to help with the situation.

    How were you personally impacted by working on this project?  I was truly inspired by the former gang members’ I spoke with and their trek to find Jesus, disengage themselves from their gang, and helping lead others to Christ. Their journey story inspired me to keep going, even when the muck of the facts weighed heavily on my heart.

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